Yesterday afternoon I attended a meeting of interested parties who gathered to discuss the Senate debate on Lieberman-Warner, which Sen. James Inhofe is now calling the “Boxer Climate Tax Bill.”

Democrats continue to squabble over the mess they made for themselves by pushing this wretchedness. But on the GOP side, Sen. Elizabeth Dole looks now to be a firm “yes” supporting the bill — in spite of all that the floor debate has already revealed. According to one source who met with her staff, they repeated standard green-group talking points such as “we have to invest in the future” and that this bill is where that money must come from. Yikes.

More disappointing, reports are that New Hampshire senator John Sununu (pictured), facing a re-election fight, apparently is leaning toward a “yes” vote after hearing from a number of groups demanding he support the bill — groups whose members will never support him and, in most cases, actively support his opponent.

Perhaps I am being presumptuous, but it could be that Sen. Sununu might view this as a free vote, as do a few other solons who would never consider supporting such a monstrosity, if facts and logic were guiding their decision. The word on the street is that some senators are feeling heat from warming advocates — and believe they can support the bill now, when no one sees it having any chance of passing, and then oppose it next time around when it almost certainly will be even more monstrous. (So the thinking goes, though the concept of this 491-page, 4th-version-in-two-weeks bill getting even worse is itself difficult to grasp).

This is a mistake. The argument “I was for it before I was against it” — which is precisely how any future efforts to explain away contradictory votes will be interpreted — does not have the best track record. And there is much more at stake here, including moving the political center of the bill even further to the Left in its next incarnation, by giving its present version the false credibility of inflated support. Such winking assent will also give political cover to alarmists and others enamored with their agenda: “Hey, John Sununu supported it; are you saying he supports socialism? Hmm?”

All pols casting a calculating political eye at this bill ought to remember that the noisy green groups who are agitating for this bill are trying to pressure GOP senators into doing the wrong thing, with the false promise of later political support. Their support is something you can do without. Address this bill on its merits, Senators, and you’ll keep the conservative support that you can’t do without.  Source